Cold Blooded

The Rooster

"I'll go out to meet him." Ajax said, turning to Tonia. "Why don't you all play a game of hide and seek? Tonia can be the seeker."

"Hide and Seek?" Teucer asked, tilting his head. "Now?"

"Yup," Tonia said, quickly catching on to Ajax's plan. "Help Chongyun and Saya find good spots. 30... 29..."

"Okay!" Teucer and Anton whirled around and darted off into the house. Chongyun and Saya followed at their heels.

"You two can hide up here," Teucer whispered. He moved aside a few panels in the wall that led to a ladder. "This goes to the attic. There are a bunch of things for you to hide behind. There are also a few holes in the ground, so you can see if Tonia is coming close."

Teucer ran off to find a hiding place, giggling and laughing the whole way. Saya and Chongyun looked at each other and rushed up the hidden ladder. Saya carefully slid the planks back into place.

The attic was fairly well maintained for an attic. Boxes were stacked about and a rack of old clothes was pushed against one wall. The corners were full of dust, but a shoe that probably belonged to Anton and a couple of Teucer's toys were tossed about the room. This room was often played in. Saya waved Chongyun behind some crates in the back corner.

"Hey, Chongyun," Saya pointed towards a hole in the floor. "Teucer was right. You can see the whole front room through all these holes. This is... actually really not structurally sound, at all."

Chongyun came and sat down with Saya. The ground creaked beneath him with each step.

"How was the journey over, Mr. Mayor?" Ajax asked as he opened the door and walked in with an older man. The man wore a very tall hat and his long nose peaked out from the hat's brim.

"Ah, Tartaglia, no need to call me that." The man patted Ajax on the shoulder. "You know you can just call me Pulcinella."

"Haha," Ajax scratched the back of his head as a few more men entered the house. "Thank you, sir. What are you doing in this part of town? You usually don't visit with... extra guests."

"Well, yes. I have some important things I need to discuss with you." Pulcinella took a few steps forward. "But first, where is your mother and your siblings?"

"Oh, Tonia is playing hide and seek in the kitchen and Ma is out getting some more firewood."

"How wonderful, I love knowing that your family is safe and happy. Now, down to business." Pulcinella smiled and then pulled something out from his coat and placed it in Ajax's hand. "You remember the little exhibition that the little Dottore had the other day, yes? The blue haired boy with the monster claws and bloodlust to rival your own?"

"Oh, yeah. Not sure if he could really beat me, but you know I'm always willing to get stronger. He was quite the project, wasn't he? A real masterpiece for that robot kiddo."

"Well, yes." Pulcinella folded his hands in front of him and leaned closer. "The problem is the experiment escaped. Almost all of the kameras from the front entrance to the experiment's cell were disabled. However, one was still active. It seems as if someone helped the experiment and disabled the kameras with arrows. Yet, they missed one right above the west wing corridor."

"It's a bit hard to tell who the experiment's rescuer was, but it is clearly a man with ginger hair and a rather nice coat." Pulcinella ran his hand down the coat that Ajax had worn the day that he had saved Chongyun. Ajax stiffened.

"You- You don't think that I-"

"Of course not," Pulcinella said with a smile that clearly said otherwise. "I just thought it would be important that I inform you. After all, this man has put both himself and his family at risk."

"Y-Yes," Ajax nodded. "I see."

"Yes, that's all. I must be off now." Pulcinella began to head out the door, his men trailing after him. "Remember to take care of your family. There are scary people out in the world."

Pulcinella closed the door after him, barely masking his threats. Ajax fell back into a chair and ran his fingers through his hair. He muttered something to himself and kicked the leg of the table.

"Chongyun, Saya?" Ajax yelled out. "Can you guys, can you come on over here? We- We're leaving here. Tonight."

chapter art from that one trailer I don't remember the name of.